Are you drooling yet? Because I am! I just LOVE S’mores and S’more flavored desserts. And the fact that this one is fruit-sweetened just made my day. And here is another fact that will blow your mind…. Tess, our featured Guest Blogger today, is a TEENAGER! This young lady has some serious skills, and her blog, Hold The Grain, is beautiful and creative, with some awesome photography skills. Definitely go check her out, and prepare to be amazed by this awesome recipe!
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Hi, everyone! I’m Tess, and I am beyond thrilled to be sharing a recipe with you all on Paleo Parents! As soon as I found out that I would be guest posting for Matt and Stacy, I knew I wanted to share a healthier, allergy-friendly sweet treat. With summer winding down and Labor Day around the corner, I set my mind on a fruit-sweetened, nut-free s’mores flavor.
I think it’s safe to say that everyone loves s’mores, right? Personally, I have countless memories making s’mores on camping trips throughout my childhood, and I’m guilty of having found creative ways to enjoy them without access to a camp fire. Marshmallows roasting over a gas stove flame, anyone? I’ll even admit to having microwaved a few s’mores back in my chocolate/corn syrup/gluten loving days. Those days are definitely over, out of both choice and necessity, but that shouldn’t mean that anyone with severe allergies or a healthy lifestyle choice shouldn’t be able to enjoy the enticing and memory-inducing flavor of s’mores.
It may seem intimidating, with multiple pieces to the recipe, but I promise you can put the whole thing together easily. All of the steps use similar ingredients and can be made before hand. The sweetener used for the entirety of the recipe, date paste, can be made and stored in your fridge for a few weeks before you even make s’mores jars (although I don’t recommend waiting weeks to enjoy these!). If you’ve never made date paste before, I shared a simple how-to on my blog a few weeks back.
Additionally, I recommend making both the chocolate pudding and marshmallow whip the day before. In the fridge, both will thicken to a lovely texture and the flavors will meld. That way, the day you assemble your pudding jars, you simply need to bake graham crackers which can be made start to finish in 15 minutes. I pinky promise it is all easier than it may seem, and the finished product is equally beautiful, fun and lick-the-jar good!
Ingredients
- 3 Egg whites, room temperature
- 1 Teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ Teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ Cup Date Paste
- ¼ Cup water
- ½ Cup arrowroot starch/flour
- 1 Cup Date Paste , separated
- 1 Cup full-fat coconut milk
- ½ Teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ Cup cocoa powder
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ Cup coconut flour
- ½ Cup arrowroot starch/flour
- ½ Teaspoon [baking soda|
- 1 Teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- ½ Teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons Date Paste
- ¼ Cup organic palm shortening
Instructions
- The trick to the marshmallow whip is allowing your eggs to come completely to room temperature by either setting on your counter for an hour or two or by carefully soaking in luke warm water. Secondly, you want to make sure the bowl of your mixer has been thoroughly washed and dried. Any grease or oil in the bowl can prevent the egg whites from whipping properly.
- To begin, place your egg whites, vanilla and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer. In a small sauce pan, combine the date paste and water.
- With the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites at medium speed until soft peaks begin to form, about 5 minutes. During that time, heat the date paste over medium heat until it mixes easily with the water and begins to lightly bubble. Remove from the heat until the egg whites have whipped.
- With the speed on low, slowly add the hot date paste to the whipped egg whites. Return to medium-high speed and whip another 6-8 minutes, until the color lightens throughout.
- Reduce the speed to low once more and slowly pour in the arrowroot starch. Whip at medium speed for about 4 more minutes. The mixture should have small peaks and be white, light and fluffy.
- Store the marshmallow cream in an air-tight glass container in the fridge.
- In a saucepan over low heat, combine ½ cup date paste with the milk and vanilla until smooth and well combined. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder and salt. Stir in the remaining date paste.
- Set in the fridge to thicken, at least 1-2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flours with the cinnamon, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, vanilla, and date paste. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and mix to combine. Stir in the shortening to create a dough.
- Between two pieces of parchment paper, roll the dough into a long, flat rectangle. Discard the top piece of parchment paper, and place the remaining piece with the dough on a baking sheet. With a knife, score the dough to create 6-9 equally sized graham cracker squares. Pierce the dough 3-4 times per cracker with a fork.
- Bake for 6 minutes, then completely cut and separate the individual crackers. Bake for 3 additional minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.
- Using 6-ounce mason jars, you can create 6 s’more pudding jars.
- Layer the ingredients beginning with a few pieces of broken graham cracker. Top with a scoop of chocolate pudding, and followed by a scoop of marshmallow whip. Repeat the layer one more time and finish with a pinch of smashed graham cracker crumble. Repeat with all 6 (6-ounce) mason jars.
- Serve immediately, or place the layered pudding jars in the fridge with the lids on until ready to enjoy!
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://paleoparents.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/headshot.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]
Tess is a teenage foodie, blogger and student. She shares grain-free and allergy friendly recipes on her blog, Hold the Grain. Since adopting a gluten-free and paleo diet, she has fallen in love with cooking, baking and real food nutrition. Her other interests include photography, sustainability, movies, art, animals (especially her adorable schnauzers!) and reading.
Connect with Tess: | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | [/author_info] [/author]